10:12 p.m. | I am leaving the plaza. Realizing that the permit can’t be rejected, per the city attorney’s office, the group will stay tonight.

It’s still unclear what they will do tomorrow, if anything.

For now, the beat of the hand drum goes on.

7:58 p.m. | The group has gathered on the plaza to discuss its options and plans. Some support camping on the plaza tonight, which would be allowed by the city. Some also support “occupying” the plaza in future nights, which would be illegal without a permit.

Organizers say the city will charge them $5,000 a night for any future permit issued to cover police and maintenance costs.

5:31 p.m. | City Manager Russ Blackburn said he is willing to allow the Occupy Gainesville group to stay in the plaza overnight tonight, adding that it would be a one-time thing.

However, Blackburn is leaving City Hall at 6 p.m. for a function and would need to give authorization for the permit. That might be tricky with him out of the office.

4:35 p.m. | Gainesville Police Sgt. Tscharna Senn said the group has not yet applied for a permit to stay in the plaza overnight, which it would need in order to stay past the 11:30 p.m. closing time.

The group is supposed to assemble at about 7 p.m. to determine whether to apply for the permit.

City spokesman Bob Woods said City Manager Russ Blackburn has agreed to sign off on a permit for tonight if the group wants one.

But, organizers said earlier that city manager is only willing to allow the group to stay there for one night, offering a quandary for a group that says it intends to keep a presence downtown for days to come.

4:01 p.m. | One of the first people on the plaza this morning was a woman sitting by herself with a sign reading “I SUPPORT CAPITALISM” and sporting an American Tea Party T-shirt.

Lourdes Chu said she was like an “army of one” and wanted to offer a different point of view. She said that’s not a new feeling for her — she had done a similar, solitary counter-demonstrations when groups were protesting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Chu said she has recently started attending local Tea Party meetings and that her values are in line with that movement’s.

Individuals in the Occupy Gainesville movement, on the other hand, lean toward socialism and communism, she said, systems she adamantly opposes as her parents are from Cuba and she still has relatives there.

“I believe the Occupy movement is extremely to the left,” Chu said. “Their view of the world is completely different than mine because my family is in the system.”

Some protesters engaged her about corporate influence in politics. Later, she told me she felt there were issues in that area that need to be addressed.

But, she said, “I don’t think that’s keeping the average person from getting ahead in this country.”

11:52 a.m. | After about 20 minutes at the bank, the group is walking back to downtown, where they will discuss the offer from the city to stay in the plaza for one night only.

11:36 a.m. | The roughly 60 protesters have marched to the Bank of America on University Avenue and are again chanting, “They got bailed out, we got sold out,” as well as “Tell me what democracy looks like. This is what democracy looks like.”

9:47 a.m. | After one protester suggested the group not smoke or use drugs on the plaza, another, Debbie Martinez, suggested there be no more “four-letter words.”

That didn’t sit well with some. It was then suggested that the issue of language be brought up at tonight’s general assembly meeting.

9:39 a.m. | At 11 a.m., the protesters will be marching to the Wells Fargo branch on North Main Street and at 12:30 p.m. they will be discussing a deal the city has offered about staying in the plaza past the 11:30 p.m. closing time.

Maya Garner, an organizer, said the city has offered a permit that would allow the group to stay in the plaza for one night. But it is unclear whether the group will want to limit itself to one night.

9:13 a.m. | Barbara Sieling, who drove an hour from her home between Bronson and Newberry to get to Occupy Gainesville, got up on the stage to vent about the lack of young people here so far.

Sieling said the protest should also be in a more visible spot, like the intersection of West University Avenue and 13th Street or in front of Rep. Cliff Stearns‘ office.

“Preaching to the choir is not letting the world know how we feel,” she said.

She has now moved to University to hold her sign, which reads, “HUMAN NEEDS NOT CORPORATE GREED,” and others have joined her.

Original post:

The Occupy Wall Street movement has spread to other cities around the country, with thousands of people taking the message against perceived social and economic injustices that started in New York and recreating it from coast to coast.

A crowd was expected to gather at the Bo Diddley Community Plaza for Occupy Gainesville at 8 a.m., but few have showed so far, though the crowd is expected to get bigger throughout the day.

Maya Garner, a local business owner and organizer, said the group was going to continue to stay in the plaza as long as possible. The city closes the plaza at 11 p.m., so Garner said it was not clear whether the group would be allowed to stay past that time. On Tuesday, organizers were applying for a permit to stay longer, though she was not sure what the status was.

“We do intend to stay as long as we’re permitted and as long as things remain peaceful and copacetic,” Garner said. “We gather under the same idea that there are certain social and economic injustices that are being perpetuated by the people who are supposed to represent us.”

By 8 a.m., there were few protesters here.

A University of Florida student arrived with signs and looked around confused and asked where the organizers were.

Then Pat Fitzpatrick, a homeless advocate, showed with a shopping cart of signs, which he has spread out on the plaza’s stage.

Still, there are only about 20 protesters so far, though the movement had been getting several dozen people for its general assembly planning meetings in the past few weeks.

Morgan Watkins, a University of Florida grad, joined the Sun in August 2012 as its county government reporter. She keeps you updated on what’s happening inside county meetings and outside in local neighborhoods. If you think something might make a good story, let her know at morgan.watkins@gvillesun.com.